Associated PressGregg Popovich (shewn in a previous) was not happy with the Spurs' play at Madison Square Garden.

The five most interesting stories, rumors and notes in the NBA:

1. Pop goes the message: The Spurs trailed the Knicks by 11 points, but they had Tony Parker about to shoot two free throws and 3:13 left on the clock, so it came a big surprise to many that coach Gregg Popovich cleared his bench. An 11-point deficit to the host Knicks with more than three minutes? That's doable, isn't it?

But no. Popovich took out Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson, and put in Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal and Ime Udoka. After Parker made one of two free throws, Popovich had him commit a foul to stop play, then pulled him, too, replacing him with Chris Quinn.

Final score, 128-115 Knicks. The explanation, coach? "We have a game tomorrow, and it’s a long season," Popovich said. "The chances of winning the game were not good."

If his players had made plays with the effectiveness that Popovich reeled off sarcastic one-liners in his post-game news conference, maybe the Spurs might've won. Among the coach's droll roll:

"If we score 115 points, I expect to win the basketball game. Our defense was pathetic."

"I wouldn’t say there will be a line outside of the arena to buy either of our defensive playbooks."

[On "holding" Amare Stoudemire to 28 points after he averaged 32.7 against the Spurs last season] "I’m thrilled about that. We really stopped him."

The big buzz, though, was about the early pull of his starters. Manu Ginobili could be seen slamming a towel on the ground when he sat down, and he tells the Express-News' Buck Henry, "Of course that upset me."

The Spurs were playing for a 30th win in what has already been the best early start they've ever had. But Popovich was less interested in a 30th win than in the Spurs playing up to their capabilities. Instead, they gave up 128 points, the most they've ever given up since Duncan was drafted.

Popovich, with four championships, has the latitude to wave an unconventional white flag to make a bigger point. If you watch Spurs games, you'll seem him substitute not by a set rotation, but strictly by feel or even to make a point -- heck, there are games, close ones, when Parker or Duncan don't play the entire fourth quarter.

At some point in June, if the Spurs are playing for a championship, we might be thinking back to last night's game. We'll certainly think about it tonight, when the Spurs play at Boston.

2. Plane fight! Plane fight! Memphis
guard Tony Allen made a key three-pointer and two free throws in the
final 1:21 to help the Grizzlies to a 110-105 home win over Oklahoma
City last night. Another Grizzlies guard, O.J. Mayo, was not at the
arena, sitting out with what the team called "bronchitis."

Nowhere on WebMD is bronchitis described being punched in the face by Tony Allen.

That, however, is apparently what happened on the team plane during a flight back to Memphis from Los Angeles. The Commercial Appeal's Ronald Tillery reports that Allen had won about $1,000 to $1,500 from Mayo in a card game, but Mayo would not pay up, instead choosing to insult Allen, who eventually punched Mayo.

Tillery
reports that Allen apologized to the team -- which stayed with Mayo
having bronchitis as the reason for his absence Tuesday -- and that
Allen and Mayo had exchanged makeup texts. The team is calling the
matter closed. Surely it helped that the Grizzlies beat the Lakers and Thunder in succession and moved to within two games of the eighth-place Blazers in the Western Conference.

Allen
was certainly not punished as harshly as his teammate, Zach Randolph,
was in 2003 when he punched then-Blazers teammate Ruben Patterson in the
face during practice. That one cost Z-Bo (who, by the way, had 31
points and 16 rebounds Tuesday) a three-game suspension and $100,000
fine.

APThe Clippers' Blake Griffin will have home-rim advantage in the NBA dunk contest.

3. A little too tall an order: Personally, I'd rather see him in an MMA thing against Andre Miller, but those who have been clamoring to see the Clippers' Blake Griffin in the NBA slam dunk contest will apparently get their wish.

The L.A. Times' Broderick Turner, citing unnamed sources, reports that Griffin will be in the contest, joining the Thunder's Serge Ibaka, Wizards' JaVale McGee and Bucks' Brandon Jennings on Feb. 19 at the Staples Center.

Is it me, or is this field a little too tall? Griffin and Ibaka are 6-10 and McGee is two inches taller. Also, is this good idea for Jennings, who is out with a fractured foot, but expected to be back by then?

None of it will be official until the field is announced Thursday.

I have theory here: By putting Griffin in the dunk contest, I think coaches might be more inclined to leave him out of the All-Star Game, which in turn could help, say, Kevin Love or even LaMarcus Aldridge.

My theory is coaches will reason that Griffin is a rookie, he'll be part of All-Star Weekend with the dunk contest and rookie-sophomore game and will be in All-Star Games for years to come, so why not get other guys in?

By the way, even if Aldridge does not make the All-Star Game, there should be at least one Portland player in the All-Star events. Shouldn't Wesley Matthews be a shoo-in for the rookie-sophomore game (yeah, I know, it's easy to forget Matthews is only in his second year). Matthews is No. 4 among all second-year players in scoring this season at 15.6 points per game.

4. Technical difficulties: Turns out the real culprit for the Lakers' embarrassing loss to Memphis on Sunday was Steve Jobs.

Actually, not Jobs himself, but one of his products. ESPN's Ric Bucher reports that three Lakers were late for the morning shootaround Sunday -- with one of the tardy, Pau Gasol, possibly having skipped it altogether -- because the alarms in their iPhones failed to go off.

Gasol said he was late to shootaround, but a team official tells Bucher the power forward missed it completely. Either way, he did not play well, scoring 10 points and committing five turnovers as the Grizzlies -- not mention Android and Blackberry -- got the victory.5. PA anonymity: And to end with another Spurs-related item
... for what's supposed to be a small-market town, San Antonio sure
produces some interesting scandals.

Obviously, the Tony Parker-Eva Longoria divorce has been all over the tabloids, but there has also been the bizarre -- and we mean bizarre
-- case of Mike Lavender, the Spurs' former PA announcer.

Lavender, 36, was arrested under a 2008 Texas law which, according to
the Express-News, "makes it illegal to communicate under a fake identity
through social networking sites with intent to harm, defraud or
intimidate another person."

For reasons that are still not clear, Lavender started a pseudonymous
Twitter account under the moniker "skanksinSA411" and used it to accuse a
local TV reporter (not identified) of having an affair with a married
man, offering such gems (courtesy of sportsgrid.com
screen grab) as, "Dear SA [reporter] is an adulterous skank who has
affairs with married men. BOYCOTT [her station] until she's gone."

Lavender admitted the tweets were his, but a grand jury no-billed
Lavender, meaning they didn't think there was enough evidence to charge
him with a crime. And now? Lavender, whose contract with the Spurs and
two other teams has not been renewed, is talking lawsuit, although whom
he would sue is unclear.

Just because something isn't a crime doesn't mean it's not really, really wrong.